Secaucus projects get $5.375 million tax breaks

New Jersey awarded tax breaks totaling nearly $5.4 million on Thursday to a Pennsylvania pharmaceutical-services company and a New York jewelry manufacturer to create facilities in Secaucus and bring 125 jobs to the state.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority awarded Frontage Laboratories of Exton, Pa., a tax break just below $2.4 million for a project that would expand its clinical testing ability with a laboratory in Secaucus.

The company, which employs 30 people at a manufacturing facility in Hackensack, would bring 50 jobs to the 33,000-square-foot project in Secaucus, the EDA said.

Frontage is also considering putting the facility in Philadelphia, and without the EDA grant the New Jersey project would be "the more expensive option," according to an EDA memo outlining the project.

In addition, the state awarded a $3 million tax break to Jacmel Jewelry to create an operations-and-distribution center in a leased facility in Secaucus. The company is also considering putting the facility in Norwalk, Conn., the EDA said.

The one-time cost of moving to New Jersey would be $135,000 more than for the Connecticut location, and the "portability" of the business means that "there is no required business reason" for the new facility to be in New Jersey, according to the EDA.

The project would bring 75 jobs to the state, the agency said.

The two tax breaks were granted under the state's Grow New Jersey Assistance Program for companies that invest in the state, create a specified number of jobs and are located in certain geographic or industrial sectors. The project also must generate a financial benefit to the state, mostly through taxes generated.

The incentives are awarded in the form of tax credits that can be used to reduce a company's business taxes or sold to others who can put them to the same use.